Cannot delete messages from Outlook.com account after import from Gmail

MOI

New Email
I imported (using the new import feature) messages from gmail account. Now I cannot delete the messages. Outlook.com cannot sort messages as there are too many messages on this account. I need to delete them but cannot. I get error messages when I try to delete from folders or from the trash folder.
  1. "Outlook.com was not able to complete this request. Microsoft may contact you about any issues you report. Close.
  2. There was a problem with the Outlook.com service (a temporary network connectivity issue that has nothing to do with your computer). Please try again. Close.
  3. Something happened at our end. Please refresh your browser or close it and sign in again. Refresh. Close.
This was a large Gmail account. I had wanted to use Outlook.com but now am unable to because there are just too many messages. I still have the Gmail account with the messages still resident there.

I have also tried synchronizing this Outlook.com IMAP account to desktop mail applications, have allowed them to download (ThunderBird, Outlook 2011 for Mac) and they are also stuck on these apps and will also not delete.

Any advice please on how to delete these messages (over 100K) from outlook.com would be much appreciated.

Thanks!
 
Last edited by a moderator:

Kathy Potter

New Email
Is there an answer to this problem? I am having the same problem except that if have over 4000 pages of duplicate sent emails. I have fixed the setting on my phone which was causing the problem, but I have spent a week deleting these emails. After 3 pages are deleted, I get the error messages. I am not receiving emails on my computer, even though they are showing up in the inboxes on my phone, tablet and on the server. I have also received several messages saying that MS may contact me, but so far they haven't. I would love to hear from them!
 

EQ Admin

EQ Forum Admin
Staff member
Hi MOI & Kathy,

I should be able to delete emails from an account that supports IMAP using our IMAP Tools.

It would require that you trust me with your username & password.

It might also be possible for me to quickly make a web form that accepts a mail server, username, and password, that would automatically do the delete for you with the same scripting without you needing to share your passwords (which is an obvious privacy & security concern and something I don't want to encourage people to do or think is ok).

If mail programs are timing out out and there are not other other solutions, please let me know if either of the above options sounds acceptable to you and I'll be happy to help.

:welcome: to Email Questions!
 

EQ Admin

EQ Forum Admin
Staff member
Hello,

It's still a little rough around the edges but we made a script on this page should work and be able to delete the emails from your Outlook.com inbox:

IMAP Toolkit - Purge Inbox or Folder

Click the link at the bottom of that page to get started.

It defaults to connecting to Outlook.com and only needs your username and password before pushing the delete button.

Please try that page and let us know if it works for you.
:thanks:
 

MOI

New Email
Thanks for the info. I have tried the new toolkit, and get this error after about 15 seconds...

Gateway Time-out

The gateway did not receive a timely response from the upstream server or application.

I am using the new Firefox, release 29 on an iMac, latest OSX.

Any ideas on how to proceed please?

Thanks!
 
Last edited by a moderator:

rfs9999

IMAP Tools
I just tried it and it worked with my Outlook account:

Click here to go back to the IMAP Purge web site.

Purging the Inbox folder
There are 1,803 messages in the Inbox folder
Finished, there are now 0 messages in Inbox

-Rick
 
Last edited by a moderator:

gebrialsmith

Greylisted
I imported (using the new import feature) messages from gmail account. Now I cannot delete the messages. Outlook.com cannot sort messages as there are too many messages on this account. I need to delete them but cannot. I get error messages when I try to delete from folders or from the trash folder.


  1. "Outlook.com was not able to complete this request. Microsoft may contact you about any issues you report. Close.
  2. There was a problem with the Outlook.com service (a temporary network connectivity issue that has nothing to do with your computer). Please try again. Close.
  3. Something happened at our end. Please refresh your browser or close it and sign in again. Refresh. Close.
This was a large Gmail account. I had wanted to use Outlook.com but now am unable to because there are just too many messages. I still have the Gmail account with the messages still resident there.


I have also tried synchronizing this Outlook.com IMAP account to desktop mail applications, have allowed them to download (ThunderBird, Outlook 2011 for Mac) and they are also stuck on these apps and will also not delete.


Any advice please on how to delete these messages (over 100K) from outlook.com would be much appreciated.


Thanks!

To set up Thunderbird to sync to your Outlook.com account’s email:
o Open Thunderbird email application
o Go to Application menu, choose Add Account…
o Fill your account information; choose Options… then Account Settings…
o Click the Account Actions button, and then choose Add Mail Account…
o Input your account information.
o Click Continue.
o Click Manual config.

Set the Incoming settings as follows:
a. Server hostname: imap-mail.outlook.com.
b. Port: 993.
c. SSL: SSL/TLS.
d. Authentication: Normal password.

Set the Outgoing settings as follows:
a. Server hostname: smtp-mail.outlook.com.
b. Port: 587.
c. SSL: STARTTLS.
d. Authentication: Normal password.


Click Done.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
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